Proyek Pesisir
A Public Education Strategy for Proyek Pesisir North Sulawesi
TR-9808-E basis. The purpose is to inform the people about the process in the marine sanctuary. Part of the
local community will be closely involved in the marine sanctuary, but this is probably not the case for all people in Tumbak. It is important that these people are kept informed too. One way
of doing so is through the information center, but not all people will have a look at the informa- tion in the information center. They might be reached through informative meetings. These
meetings can also be used to give additional education on coastal ecosystems. When it appears that there exists lack of knowledge on ecosystems or that there are some misconceptions these
subjects can be addressed in informative meetings. Sometimes it might be necessary to invite somebody from outside the community or Proyek
Pesisir to provide the information needed by the community in an informative meeting. Comparative study of other marine sanctuaries. Sometimes it can be very helpful to learn
from experiences of other people. There is no use in reinventing the wheel. Therefore it is good to keep in contact with other communities who have experiences with marine sanctuaries.
These can be communities in other field sites of Proyek Pesisir, but also from communities not related to Proyek Pesisir.
The activities can be either field trips to other marine sanctuaries, inviting people from other marine sanctuaries over to Tumbak to be able to share experiences or contact through mail or
e-mail. These contacts can provide new insights into marine sanctuaries or can help solving problems occurring in Tumbak. Especially cross visits of Blongko can be arranged easily and
can contribute a lot.
5. Set up a small information center in the office of the Kepala Desa. Although in Tumbak there are no concrete plans of building an information center yet, there should
be a place where people can get information. The office of the kepala desa is suitable for that purpose. It is in the middle in the village, so well accessible for all villagers. Besides the extension
officer of Proyek Pesisir several other people use the office, putting restraints on the possibilities for using the space as an information center. Most of the walls can be used to put up information.
Furthermore, one movable information board can be put in the office. This means that the informa- tion materials are limited to those that can be put on the wall or on the information board. The
information in the office should be on Proyek Pesisir activities, goals, outcomes, on coral reef ecosystems how it works, what people use it for, how this use affects the system and how coral
reefs can be preserved and on health issues relationship between human activities and health prob- lems.
4.2.4 Specific activities
Bentenan In this section some of the activities mentioned in section 4.2.3 are worked out in more detail. The
activities focused on in this section are the integration of coastal issues into the formal curriculum of the elementary school and the design of exhibitions for the information center.
Integration of coastal issues into formal curriculum The junior high school in Bentenan has, just like all schools, the possibility to integrate local
components in the formal curriculum through Muatan Lokal. Among these local components can be education on coastal issues. The department of education has developed an outline for content
to be taught in the coastal component of the Muatan Lokal. However, teachers do not know how they can incorporate these subjects in their classes, although they are interested in doing so.
Therefore the teachers are interested in working together with Proyek Pesisir in trying to imple- ment coastal issues in their school.
Proyek Pesisir
A Public Education Strategy for Proyek Pesisir North Sulawesi
TR-9808-E Proyek Pesisir should provide the teachers with enough background information and materials that
can be used. The teachers probably need training in coastal issues, so that they will become capable of teaching that subject matter to their classes.
Since Bentenan is situated on the coast it provides the school with a great opportunity to learn about coastal ecosystems through first hand experiences. The children get a perfect opportunity to link the
knowledge taught in the classroom with experiences in the field. Therefore it is necessary to make the school programs experience focused, meaning that the children spend a lot of time learning
outside the classroom.
Learning out in the field, however, requires more people who can accompany the children. The class should be split up in small groups. It cannot be expected from teachers that they cut themselves into
pieces. That is why extra support is necessary. When going to the field the teachers should be assisted by other people. These can be parents or other people from the community. However,
before being able to accompany groups of children doing fieldwork requires special skills. Therefore these people should be trained in working with groups of schoolchildren.
Both the training of teachers and other people helping in the education programs should be taken care of by Proyek Pesisir. Or, if necessary, Proyek Pesisir should contract an organization that can
take care of the training.
The programs on coastal issues should be as interactive, active and practice based as possible. Children must spend a lot of time outside the classroom, doing things and finding answers to basic
question themselves. The materials that can be used for such programs need to be interactive too. A good way of interactive learning is by using worksheets. Following a short explanation on a certain
subject children can be provided with a worksheet on that topic. With the help of the general knowl- edge they were taught in class and other information sources natural environment, information
center, people in the community the children should be able to do the assignments on the work sheets. In Appendix II important aspects in making worksheets are listed. A second possibility is to
assign a class to make an exhibition for the information center on a certain topic. A third possibility is doing experiments in the field. These can be chemical, biological of physical experiments.
The educational materials should be developed by Proyek Pesisir or by some organization con- tracted by Proyek Pesisir, because the school teachers in Bentenan are not able to develop the
materials because of lack of topical background, time and means. However, the development of the curriculum and materials should be done in close cooperation with the school teachers. Regular
meetings, testing and evaluation will be necessary. This cooperation can prevent a situation in which the developed curriculum and materials are not being used, because they do not meet the standards
of the teachers.
The curriculum developed by the department of education is not considered suitable for the junior high school in Bentenan. The teachers do not know how to handle the subjects. Therefore a new,
better adjusted, curriculum should be developed. This curriculum should be developed for every class of the school, starting with seventh grade and finishing with ninth grade. Every class should
basically get the same subjects taught, but more detailed the higher the grade gets.
A central point in this curriculum for all grades should be coastal ecosystems in general. Students need to know the basics of ecosystems before they can understand what is happening in their own
surrounding. The first trimester in every grade should be spent on general background information on coastal ecosystems. Second and third trimester can be focused on a special ecosystem e.g.
mangrove forest, coral reefs, sea grass. These specific ecosystems can be discussed in more detail. 27
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A Public Education Strategy for Proyek Pesisir North Sulawesi
TR-9808-E Material on all specific coastal ecosystems present in Bentenan should be developed on all grade
levels. Each teacher then can choose which specific ecosystem will be central in the program. Every teacher can pick an ecosystem for the second trimester and one for the third trimester. The program
for every grade thus should be built along the following structure:
First trimester General knowledge on coastal ecosystems.
Important aspects that should be addressed are:
Energy flow in ecosystems food chains Cycles limitedness of ecosystems
Interaction between organisms Change evolution, adjustment to the environment e.g. camouflage
Second trimester More detailed attendance of one specific ecosystem
Examples are:
Coral reefs Mangrove forests
Sea grass ecosystems
Third trimester More detailed attendance of one specific ecosystem a different ecosystem than the one addressed
in the second trimester
In all education on ecosystems at all levels attention should be paid to the role humanity plays in it. This must both be in what way people use the specific ecosystems and what the effects of human
activities on the ecosystem are. Especially in higher grades this should be an important topic. Chil- dren must realize that humans are part of the ecosystems, just as fish and trees are.
When the curriculum has proven to be working fine in Bentenan, attempts can be made to expand it to other villages. Therefore it is important to get the department of education involved in the
program. A good way of getting them involved is by inviting them over to Bentenan to participate in one of the programs, so that they can see for themselves how good the curriculum is. When they get
positive information on the curriculum on a regular basis, this may be a stimulation for them to implement the developed curriculum in other villages as well. Besides getting the department of
education involved, an outreach program to schools in other villages should be started when the program is running smoothly in Bentenan. The implementation of coastal issues in formal curricu-
lum at the regional level is also discussed in section 3.
Exhibitions in the information center Important aspects of the exhibitions in the information center have already been discussed in section
4.2.3. The exact outline of the exhibitions is dependent on the topics discussed. In this section a rough layout for the information center is drawn, together with an explanation on the layout. Be-
sides the layout of the information center, information on important aspects in designing an exhibi- tion is provided for in Appendix I. A sketch of the layout of the information center is included in
appendix III.
The space that can be used for the information center can be divided into two sections, a small section in the back that can be locked and a bigger, open section in the front. Both these sections can
be used for exhibits. However, the openness of the front section has an impact on the way the 28
Proyek Pesisir
A Public Education Strategy for Proyek Pesisir North Sulawesi
TR-9808-E exhibits should be designed. A condition is that the exhibits are movable. When the information
center is closed and at night the exhibits must be locked away in the section in the back to prevent the materials from being stolen or destroyed. This means that the materials must not be too heavy, too
big or solidly attached to the building.
The open section has major impacts on the information center. The first impact is that the outside walls cannot be used to display materials, since there are no walls. Therefore other possible displays
have to be used. The second major impact of the openness is the availability of sunlight. Light is extremely important to an exhibition. People must be able to see the exhibits and without enough
light this is not possible. Another factor that has to be taken into account are weather conditions. Because the space is open, the exhibits will be subject to weather conditions, such as rain, wind and
sunlight. The materials used for the exhibits should be able to stand weather influences. Photos and other display materials should be laminated when possible.
The two sections of the information center should be used in different ways. The open section in the front should be used to provide general information on Proyek Pesisir and coastal issues in Bentenan.
The section in the back should be used to provide more detailed information to people who are interested. The front section is from a psychological point of view is more accessible than the section
in the back. Therefore information focusing on a large audience should be displayed in the front, while more detailed information focusing on a more specific audience can be provided in the back.
As stated in section 4.2.3 the information center should be subdivided into several smaller sections, each focusing on a certain topic. This can be accomplished by putting several information boards
perpendicular to the walls. Putting the boards in this way has two major advantages. The first is that it divides the room into several sections. The boards provide a physical boundary between sections.
The second advantage is the fact that both sides of the boards can be used for displays. Besides the rectangular information board, other forms of information boards can be used, such as
triangular ones. A big advantage of this information board is that people can walk around it.
Each information board should discuss a different topic. This means that in the information center the amount of topics should not exceed three. Possible topics for the information center in Bentenan
are erosion and the impact of garbage disposal on coastal ecosystems. The third information board can be used to provide information on Proyek Pesisir.
However, information boards cannot be used to put down materials other than photos, drawings and texts. To be able to display materials other than those that can be put on information boards e.g.
shells, fishing equipment, garbage shelves can be constructed along the wall underneath the win- dows. For even more space a cupboard can be constructed instead of a shelf. The wall between the
open space in the front and the closed section in the back can also be used to display information.
Besides the exhibits on different topics a section should be designed especially for school children. For children it is even more important than for adults that exhibits are interactive. Exhibits should
invite children to do something and actively interact with the exhibits. This can be done through puzzles or question and answer games. Question and answer games can be easily made. One can
write the question on a small flap. Children should think of possible answers. To check their answer, they can open the flap. The answer should be written down on the back of the flap. Exhibits for
schoolchildren can be made in a special corner totally focusing on school children.
In the closed section in the back of the building a miniature library can be organized. The books should be easy accessible, but not be lent out. People can read these books in the information center,
Proyek Pesisir
A Public Education Strategy for Proyek Pesisir North Sulawesi
TR-9808-E but cannot bring them home with them. The table in the back can be used by people who want to
browse the library, but is also suitable to small meetings and as a place to put written materials on Proyek Pesisir, such as brochures and fact sheets.
The furniture described above should be completed with several benches that can be used to sit down for a while, read a book, or they can be carried to the ground floor when having a community
meeting.
Tumbak In this section one of the activities mentioned in section 4.2.3 is described in more detail. The
activity focused on in this section is the design of exhibitions for the small information center in the office of the kepala desa.
Set up a small information center in the office of the Kepala Desa Important aspects of the small information center in the office of the kepala desa have already been
discussed in section 4.2.3. The exact outline of the exhibitions is dependent on the topics discussed. In this section a rough layout for the small information center is drawn, together with an explanation
on the layout. Besides the layout of the information center information on important aspects in designing an exhibition is provided for in Appendix I.
The information center in Tumbak will be different from the information centers in the other villages. In the other villages the buildings used are designed especially for being an information center, while
in Tumbak, the office of the kepala desa is used. This has influence on the possibilities for providing information. Space for information is extremely limited because it is a small office and the office is
not solely used as an environmental information center.
Provision of information will be limited to information hung on the walls of the office and probably one small information board put on the right side of the main door entering the office. This informa-
tion board should not be too big, because a big board will cut off part of the office. This results in a smaller area suitable for provision of information. When the board is small enough, people can walk
around it. This opens the opportunity to use both the front and the back of the board. However, people will be more likely to see the front than the back, so important information should be put on
the front of the board. When it is mentioned on the front that more information can be found on the back of the board, this will stimulate people to walk around the board.
In addition to this one information board, information can be hung on three of the walls of the office. All three walls should be visible from the main door of the office. This is true for the three small walls
facing the main entrance.
As stated in section 4.2.3 the information center should be subdivided into several smaller sections, each focusing on a certain topic. In Tumbak this can only be accomplished by putting different topics
on different boards or walls. Space in the office is extremely limited forcing the amount of informa- tion to be limited too. This means that in the information center the amount of topics should be
limited and definitely not exceed three. Possible topics for the information center in Tumbak are Proyek Pesisir, coral reef ecosystems and health issues. Information on Proyek Pesisir can be put on
the information board right from the door. The other two topics can be discussed on information boards on the walls. Dependent on the amount of information it can be decided which topic needs
two walls and which topic needs one. One wall should not be used for two different topics at the same time as it will make the displays less clear.
Proyek Pesisir
A Public Education Strategy for Proyek Pesisir North Sulawesi
TR-9808-E 4.2.5
Recommendations Bentenan
For the development of curriculum for coastal issues it is important that there is good cooperation between the ones developing the curriculum and materials Proyek Pesisir and the ones having to
implement it teachers. The rough outline must be drawn by the developers and implementers together. The development team should not start developing right away. Furthermore it is recom-
mended not to develop all materials at the same time. Start with materials on one topic, then test it in practice, evaluate, readjust, try again, until a good concept is found. Only then start producing
materials on other topics.
In the development of curriculum, Blongko and Bentenan should work together. In both villages formal educational curriculum will be developed. Although on different levels, cooperation between
both villages is welcome.
The actual development of curriculum and materials can be contracted out. However, when con- tracting it out, the process should be carefully monitored by Proyek Pesisir. Meetings to discuss and
evaluate the developed materials must be planned on a regular and frequent basis. Coordination of the process will be a task of the education officer of Proyek Pesisir see section 6.
Development of formal curriculum takes a long time. However, before the curriculum is ready to be implemented in the school, Proyek Pesisir can provide incidental programs on coastal issues for
the schools. At the moment the time available for Muatan Lokal is not used, so why not use it to teach about coastal ecosystems on a ad hoc basis until formal curriculum is developed.
Although plans for building an information center are made in Bentenan, the exact location is not yet decided on. From an education and communication point of view, it would be best to build the
information center in Dusun IV. This location is close to the shore and relatively in the middle of the village and close to the market. The central location is important considering accessibility for villag-
ers. When the information center is too far away, people will not visit it.
Electrification of the information center must be considered. It is recommended to provide the information center with electricity, so that the center can be used in the evening too, either as infor-
mation center or as meeting place. The sort of lighting must be considered.
Because of the extensiveness of Bentenan, the information center will be far away from some of the villagers houses mainly Dusun I and Dusun V. Therefore it is recommended to build, in addi-
tion to the information center, information boards in these two dusuns. Through these information boards, information on issues specific for those dusuns can be provided. It is important that these
information boards can stand weather conditions and will be built in a place where many people can see it.
Bentenan Beach Resort is hundreds and sometimes thousands of local tourists during the week- end. These local tourists form one of the many target groups of Proyek Pesisir education activities.
Therefore it is recommended to explore the possibilities of providing information through Bentenan Beach Resort. It would be a great opportunity to have some information boards on Bentenan Beach
Resort beaches. Through these boards, information can be given on coastal ecosystems. This infor- mation should be fully focused on tourists, many of whom are from the uplands and therefore non-
coastal residents. It should be adjusted to their interests in coastal ecosystems, which is a nice place to spend the weekend. If and when additional tourism enterprises are developed in Bentenan, such
Proyek Pesisir
A Public Education Strategy for Proyek Pesisir North Sulawesi
TR-9808-E as glass bottom boat tours, snorkel tours, mangrove tours in cooperation with Tumbak, additional
exhibits and information targeted at these activities should be developed.
Tumbak While no concrete plans for building an information center exist in Tumbak yet, it is recommended
to build an information center in the future. The office of the kepala desa can be used for these purposes temporarily, but actually the office is too small.
Besides provision of information through an information center, information boards in the village are another possibility. One information board on each end of the village can form a good addition to
information provided through the information center. These information boards should be built on a place where a lot of people can see it. Probably suitable locations are along the road or in the vicinity
of the mosque.
In the long term, coastal issues should be implemented in formal curriculum of the elementary school of Tumbak too. However, this curriculum should be developed and tested in Blongko first.
When curriculum is developed in Blongko it can be transferred to Tumbak.
Development of formal curriculum takes a long time. However, before the curriculum is ready to be implemented in the school in Tumbak, Proyek Pesisir can provide incidental programs on coastal
issues for the schools. At the moment the time available for Muatan Lokal is not used, so why not use it to teach about ecosystems.
4.3 TALISE 4.3.1
